I could see Kat Von D's mom potential months ago when my LA Ink obsession began. {See the August post if you don't believe me}. So now that she's expecting--according to comments on her MySpace message board--I'm feeling real psychic.
Just thought I'd brag. Oh yeah, and I guess a congratulations is in order.
Let’s face it; unless you’re doing it all wrong, getting a total body workout is usually no fun—mostly because it’s hard and accompanied by deep burning sensations. I, for one, always want the burning to end so that I can change back into my skinny jeans, kick up my feet and enjoy some ice cream. You know, just to speed the cool-down process along. But since that would be counterproductive, I sweat it out and settle for a cold bottle of water instead.
But when I heard about an exercise class someone described to me as ‘getting a workout while watching The View,’ I had to try it for myself. And since I can admit to stealing some time every now and then to be entertained by Barbara and the gang, I had a feeling I might even enjoy myself.
And I did. I sweated and burned and laughed…a lot. And later I found out that Tanya Fly, creator of the Nu Method, is a mom, and that’s what makes all the difference. Tanya helps women through transitions using what she has learned as a mother to provide a total body workout tailored to their physical and emotional needs, especially those of new moms.
The best part is that time with Tanya gets results. After only three weeks of working out, I got a butt compliment. And it was from a woman, so the fact that I have a nice butt is official. So I decided to get to the bottom of this amazing Nu Method-thing. (No pun intended). And like for every cool NYC mom I meet, I had a few questions for Tanya.
What inspired you to start doing what you do?
My marriage ended and I was already in the fitness industry, but the dream had died. I had to figure out how to dream a new dream. So I stopped dreaming about us and started dreaming about me—not just for myself, but also for my boys. And that manifested itself as the Nu Method.
The Nu Method is choosing something new knowing that you have the choice to be new. Under the guise of fitness, my ultimate goal is health and the well being of the soul.
Tanya explained that her biggest fear was becoming a single mother. But through personal fulfillment, self-motivation and finding balance—the tenants of the Nu Method—she has transformed herself into an independent woman for her sons, eight-year-old Jadun and five-year-old Hunter.
What’s the most satisfying thing about the work that you do?
When I can see that people feel good about where they are in the class.
What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you about being a mother?
I don’t know if anyone ever said this to me but I think it’s the best advice there is: Try to be who you really are as a mother so your kids can know you, not only as a mother but as a woman. I think kids appreciate that.
The thing I regret the most about my relationship with my mother is that I didn’t know her as a woman. All that sacrificing of self to “benefit the child,” doesn’t.
What’s the worst advice anyone has ever given you about being a mother?
The opposite of what I just said. Don’t allow yourself to die in the process. I can’t stand to see that mother. Motherhood should be an extension of what you are—not all of what you are.
Amen! You’d think she’s been reading my blog. Actually, she has her own blog that expresses personal fulfillment very well.
What is your favorite bedtime story?
We’ve graduated from reading bedtime stories to keeping journals because I just wanted to plug in more. We talk in the journal. It’s been working really well.
What is your favorite children’s song to sing?
Lost Ones by Lauren Hill. The world is influencing them.
What do you think is the most overrated kid’s toy?
Any and all tech-TV games. Don’t get me wrong—I have them and we just got a Wii. But at least with the Wii they have to move.
Where is your favorite place to eat with your kids?
We don’t go out much, so when we do, we end up having chicken nuggets from McDonald’s. No, they’re not healthy but it’s what they like.
Moms never cease to amaze me. Let’s appreciate the irony here. Tanya, who has worked in the fitness industry for 10 years, is the first to admit she doesn’t always choose the healthiest meal option. She has that extraordinary mom ability to focus on things bigger than herself, and decides that sometimes the chicken nuggets are good enough because they’re a quick source of protein that make the kids happy.
What’s the one thing your children do that makes you cringe?
When they tell me they can’t (do something). I hate hearing them limit themselves.
How would you describe your parenting style?
I don’t think I have one particular style. I just try to give them an idea of what is expected and try to create stability where there’s instability.
If you were invisible for one day, who would you spy on?
Oprah Winfrey. Absolutely.
Big O is two for two.
Name one NYC mom you would nominate to be interviewed by me?
Ann Holloway.
Ann is a writer from one of Tanya’s classes. And I hear she’s amazing.
I’ve decided to do something different for the holidays and offer more than my usual self-absorbed banter (which I still deliver with just as much finesse as I did before I had a kid, thank you very much). I’m setting out to profile a new generation of moms doing cool things in NYC. I hope you enjoy getting to know me and some other mommies this way.
Allow me to take a moment to admit that I’m a novice. However, despite my virgin interviewing skills, I aimed high and contacted my first choice—NYC cool mom and owner of Babesta, Jenn Cattaui. When she replied that she would be delighted, I was happy to have secured my dream guinea pig…ahem, I mean, my first interview.
Mother to soon-to-be-four-year-old Amina and 16 month-old Camille, Jenn’s a Jersey girl who graduated from law school, moved to New York, Paris, then back to New York to take a good job that would allow her to vacation with the best of us—until September 11th changed her perspective. With the help of her husband Aslan, she turned her shopping side gig into something lucrative. Now it’s her business to present the baddest children’s clothes to the public—and by bad I mean the freshest—and by fresh I mean… Well, you know what I mean.
When I ask Jenn what the best thing is about what she does, she replies that it is seeing the customers’ reaction to the clothes and hearing them say they’ve never seen anything like her store before. Then there’s the story of the customer who came looking for the perfect ensemble for her son’s recent portrait sitting. She decided on something by Ed Hardy, the famed tattoo artist design team, and was so pleased with her purchase that she sent a photo back to the store of her son donning the gear rock star style. The framed portrait now graces the walls of the trendy Tribeca store that has Jenn convinced she could stay in New York forever.
And when I ask her about her most prized possession and she mentions a sculpture and plate combination designed by Takashi Murakami and Vik Muniz that she found at a consignment shop in Princeton, I had a feeling I was going to need more than the twenty minutes I had arranged with her. So I delved into asking her the same questions I ask every NYC cool mom.
What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you about being a mother?
Take it as it comes.
What’s the worst advice anyone has ever given you about being a mother?
Put butter on burns. I think I got it from my mother who got it from her mother. It doesn’t work. It makes it feel worse…and get shiny.
What’s your favorite bedtime story?
From Amina’s collection: What Cats Want for Christmas by Kandy Radzinski, Olivia…and the Missing Toy and Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer, and The Octonauts by Meomi. From Camille’s collection: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton.
What is your favorite children’s song to sing?
You mean besides Party in My Tummy? Little Boxes, the theme song to Weeds.
What parents everywhere can agree on is that Yo! Gabba Gabba’s frenzied kid’s show song is like a manic acid trip (not that many of us would admit to knowing about such things). So I decide that Jenn is just being facetious—until she mentions that she often plays the song in the store. And then I decide that she’s really good at what she does.
What do you think is the most overrated kid’s toy?
Amina really wanted Aqua Dots. Unfortunately, they contained the date rape drug. So they were recalled.
Perhaps since my son is only two, I didn’t know what an Aqua Dot was. But I made a note to add ‘stay updated on all toy recalls’ to the never-ending mommy to-do list.
What’s your favorite place to eat with your kids?
Their uncle’s house. He cooks and he lives three doors down. And The Soda Shop because with two kids, I look for a different kind of restaurant: good food and kid-friendly. It’s an old-fashioned place with nice owners. The kind of place that looks down on cell phones.
There’s a kind-of-place that looks down on cell phones in this city? I make a note to check out the magic time machine immediately.
Where’s your favorite place to travel to with your kids?
When we had Amina, we didn’t change our lifestyle at all. We vacationed in Switzerland, where Aslan is from. But having two completely changes things. It’s much harder. So we’re closer to home now.
Where is your favorite place to play and have fun with your kids?
Hardly a day goes by that we don’t go to the park. The girls like to spend time with my parent’s dog. They want what they can’t have. And anywhere there’s water. Amina’s a water bug and I think Camille will be the same way.
By the way, Jenn is referring to Washington Market Park in Tribeca—a park I happily trooped to the city for several times this summer. The cleverly designed, tactile-rich playground provides hours of age-appropriate fun for the toddler set. And Jenn is already the happy owner of Mr. Brown, Little Blue and Spike, her three cats—which is why the girls cannot have a dog. (She even sponsors a few fowl a year through an animal awareness league in Jersey).
How would you describe your parenting style?
I don’t know if I’m more relaxed or type A. I go between the two extremes.
If you were invisible for one day, who would you spy on?
Salman Rushdie. But I would have to be visible because I don’t know what might be going on. And Oprah. I’d like to see what she’s up to.
Name one NYC mom you would nominate to be interviewed by me?
Jessica Seinfeld.
Is it some cruel joke that she thinks I could interview Jessica Seinfeld? Of course not. That’s just Jenn being good at what she does.
Two hours after walking into Babesta, I walked out with a cramp in my hand but very excited to head around the corner to The Soda Shop for a Cherry Lime Rickey, and off to an electronics store to price a reliable tape recorder.
Because now I know.
